[Agh! Someone help me!]

[M, monster!]

[Help me!]

The room was filled with the sound of people screaming in anguish. They originated from a specific video that was projected onto a screen, and showed an image of a young man with glossy black hair and deep blue eyes taking care of a series of guards in an effortless manner.

The expression on Octavious' face remained the same as he sat in front of the holographic projection. His eyes were as listless and hazy as they had always been.

It was as if the happenings in the projection were of no interest to him.

[Would you like to replay the video?]

The video soon came to an end, and silence filtered across the dimly lit room.

The next couple of minutes were spent with Octavious's gaze intently fixed on the projection. It wasn't until a subtle shaking began in the room that he finally showed any kind of reaction, and he got up out of his chair.

Swoosh―!

The entire room became tinged with white, and all of a sudden, a tremendous amount of pressure filled the space. The pressure began to have an effect on Octavious's face, and for the first time in a while, his eyes began to show visible signs of change.

He slightly lowered his head.

"How may I be of service?"

His tone was composed, but there was a hint of fear hidden deeply within his words.

[I trusted that you would've accomplished the mission without a problem. What has happened?]

An ancient, and deep voice reverberated throughout the room.

[There is a purpose behind why I have bestowed upon you the power that you currently possess. Because you haven't let me down in any way up to this point, you are still alive. That, however... is being tested at the moment...]

As Octavious listened to the voice, he could feel sweat running down the side of his face.

He hurriedly lowered his head further.

"I apologize for the situation."

[..Find the culprit behind the incident and make sure to eliminate them. I do not wish to expose myself.]

"I understand."

Octavious nodded his head, and knelt down on one knee. He then placed his hand over his chest.

"I will carry out the task to the utmost, Protector of the Seat of Diligence."

[I really hope that you won't let me down. There is no "next time" in this scenario.]

Soon after that, the voice got quieter and quieter until it was gone completely, leaving Octavious alone in the room. While he rested both arms against the table, a trickle of sweat continued to run down the sides of his cheeks. Heavy was his breath.

"..I must find the culprit."

As he slowly tightened his grip on his fist, his eyes clouded once more, and his face went back to its usual expression of indifference.

After making some adjustments to his suit, he turned around and quickly exited the room.

He was going to personally take action.

***

"It's as I expected.."

I took a moment to compose myself by drawing a deep breath, and then I sat myself down on the sofa. As I tried to organize the thoughts and images floating around in my head, I noticed that the noise that was occurring around me began to recede.

'Fuck.'

I was unable to maintain my composure after processing the information. I learned very little from the memories, but by combining them with what I already knew, I was able to form a hypothesis, which left me in a state of complete disbelief.

I raised my head to stare at the three grandmasters before me.

'..If I'm not wrong, the main reason why they're being targeted is because they are too talented.'

Even though I wasn't absolutely certain of this hypothesis at the time, I had a strong intuition that this was almost certainly the case. From what I gleaned from their recollections, I was able to deduce that Octavious was the one who was ultimately to blame for everything that happened.

Be it this world, or my world, he was the strongest person in the human domain.

..Most surprisingly, however, was the fact that he still learned the martial manual or skill that made him the way he was.

He was like that back when I saw him at the Union Tower, and thinking back at the memories that I saw from Melissa and seeing that they were practically the same as the ones from my world, another hypothesis formed inside of my mind.

'I need more information. I can't be too sure just yet.'

I quickly shook my head and dispersed it.

If the hypothesis proved to be correct, then I wouldn't know how to react.

It was too much..

"Huuuu.."

I took another deep breath.

It was then that I heard Grandmaster Keiki's voice.

"..Did you find anything?"

Lowering my head, I looked at him and soon nodded my head.

"Yeah. I think I have an idea of what's going on. I just am not one hundred percent sure yet. However, from what I've gathered, you have indeed been targeted, and the reason is possibly because you are all too powerful."

"That damn bastard, Octavious! Power has gotten to his head!"

Grandmaster Gravar cursed out loud while gnashing his teeth in anger.

"Ever since that child changed, he's been eying the three of us. I knew that something was wrong from the very beginning. He must feel threatened by our power."

"That may not necessarily be the case."

My fingers drummed over the armrest of the chair I was leaning on.

"While Octavious is definitely responsible for what happened to you guys, the motive behind it is definitely not because he feels threatened by your power."

My impression of Octavious was that he was the type of person who strived for excellence in everything he did. He was a man of great pragmatism and was the type of person who enjoyed having control over the circumstances surrounding him.

If I hadn't known otherwise, I probably would have assumed that he was to blame for the deaths of the three grandmasters who lived in my world. However, I knew that wasn't possible considering that he wasn't yet powerful enough to deal with them back when they were still in power.

Fortunately, I knew.. and was thus aware of the fact that there was something else at play over here.

'If the deaths of the three grandmasters in my world were really not due to the demons, then I'm afraid there's some sort of higher power hidden within both worlds, controlling everything..'

I could only think of one such power.

'A pity that I still don't have enough evidence to prove my hypothesis.'

I got out of my seat, bracing my hands against the edge of the couch as I did so, and stood up. After that, I turned my attention to the three grandmasters.

"I need to ask the three of you a favor."historical

The three straightened their backs. Grandmaster Levisha spoke.

"Tell us. If it's something that we can do, then we will try our best to help you."

Seeing the looks in their eyes, I knew that they meant their words.

It was just that..

I scratched the side of my cheek.

"..Anything?"

"Anything."

The three of them nodded with firm looks.

Licking my lips, I shot my shot.

"Then.. Can you guys teach me your arts?"

The faces of the three froze altogether.

***

Amanda sat in the back of the SUV and didn't pay any attention to what was going on around her. A lengthy silver sword rested in her hand, and she hugged it to herself in front of her. The way she was holding it made it seem as though it was her most prized possession.

"Excuse me."

She was aware of a voice coming from the front, but she chose to disregard it. At this very moment, all she was thinking about was the task at hand.

"Mrs. Stern, I would like to talk about the upcoming mission."

When Amanda finally opened her eyes, she noticed a young man with green hair seated in front of her. As soon as she opened her eyes, his gaze gleamed, and Amanda felt mildly annoyed by it.

She didn't show it.

"What is it that you'd like to talk about?"

"About what we should do once we meet the man."

The young man with the emerald hair, Kyle, pulled out his tablet while maintaining a solemn expression. He stopped on a particular video while he was scrolling through the tablet's content.

"From the looks of it, the target seems to be pretty young. About our age. He shouldn't be too strong."

A calm smile spread across Kyle's face as he analyzed the video.

"If there's an off-chance that we do end up meeting him. Then you can leave everything to me. You won't need to move a single muscle."

Looking at how confident he was, Amanda frowned but didn't say anything else.

She stared at the video for a good minute, during which time she took good note of the man that was reflected in it. After that, she diverted her attention elsewhere and once again closed her eyes.

She was certain that he wouldn't be able to handle it.

"If you feel like you can handle him yourself, then be my guest."

She warned him.

"You've got i―"

Ding―!

A sudden ring interrupted Kyle. Similarly hearing a notification on her watch, Amanda lowered her head and gazed at her watch.

[Target spotted. Please make your way toward them. Reinforcements will be there with you shortly.]